AUTOLOGOUS BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANTATION FOR ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA

Between December 1979 and February 1991, 89 patients with ALL received autologous BMT. Median patient age was 18.4 years. Ten patients were in first remission, 52 were in second or greater remission and 27 were in relapse at the time of transplant. Conditioning regimens utilized chemotherapy alone (5 patients) or in combination with 10-15.75 Gy tot al body irradiation (84 patients). Disease-free survival at 1 year is 50% for patients transplanted in first remission, 27% for those in gre ater-than-or-equal-to second remission and 8% for patients in relapse. Pre- and post-transplant variables were evaluated in univariate and m ultivariate analyses for their effect on survival and relapse. Factors significantly associated with improved survival were being transplant ed in first remission and achieving a self-sustained platelet count gr eater-than-or-equal-to 20 x 10(9)/l in a shorter period of time. A dec reased relapse rate after transplant was associated with a lower white blood count at diagnosis, being transplanted in first remission and n ot being transplanted in relapse.